Cardiovascular diseases and conditions are a major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. These diseases and conditions include, but are not limited to, the various disorders of the heart and the vascular system typically referred to as myocardial infarction (heart attack), atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, hypertensive vascular diseases, and peripheral vascular diseases.
A number of approaches are currently employed for the treatment and/or prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Pharmaceutically-based therapies include lipid lowering agents (e.g., statins), aspirin and other anti-platelet agents, and anti-hypertensive medications. Lifestyle modification also plays an important role since it is known that factors such as smoking, obesity, and a high fat diet increase the risk of myocardial infarction.
It is believed that genetic factors also contribute to the development of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. An individual's genetic makeup is therefore a significant determinant of the likelihood that he or she will suffer a myocardial infarction, particularly at a young age. However, while a “family history” of heart disease is a significant risk factor, many heart attack victims lack such a family history and, conversely, not all individuals with such a family history do indeed develop the disease. Thus the nature of the genetic contribution to cardiovascular disease is unclear.
There is a need in the art for methods and accompanying reagents that can be used to better assess an individual's susceptibility of developing cardiovascular disease. The need for such methods and reagents is especially acute in view of the fact that, atherosclerosis frequently remains clinically silent in its early stages and yet is often evident at post-mortem examination even among individuals in their teens and twenties.
The present invention addresses this problem by presenting methods and kits useful in identifying the presence of particular single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI) gene. Such SNPs place the subject at greater risk of developing elevated levels of high density lipoprotein and cardiovascular disease.